Short communicationBeliefs and their relationship to eating attitudes and depressive symptoms in men
Section snippets
Beliefs and their relationship to eating disorder attitudes and depressive symptoms in men
There has been relatively little research into eating disorders and its symptoms in men compared to women (McCabe & Ricciardelli, 2004). Research on clinical populations is difficult to conduct because few men with eating disorders present to services (Soundy, Lucas, Suman, & Melton, 1995); and because numbers appear relatively small in comparison with those in women (Striegel-Moore, Garvin, Dohm, & Rosenheck, 1999). One aspect that has not been studied is the applicability of the cognitive
Participants
Participants were 56 male student volunteers recruited from lectures, seminars and student groups. The mean age was 20.1 (S.D. = 3.2) and the mean BMI was 22.6 (S.D. = 2.7). Females were excluded. There were no other exclusion criteria.
Eating Disorder Belief Questionnaire (EDBQ: Cooper et al., 1997)
This measures assesses negative self or core beliefs and three types of underlying assumption hypothesised to be important in revised cognitive models of eating disorders (e.g. Cooper, Wells & Todd, 2004), and found to be characteristic of women with eating
Design
A cross-sectional design was employed. Hierarchical multiple regression was used to investigate the two research questions.
Descriptive information
Mean EAT score for the whole sample was 6.6 (S.D. = 7.1); mean BDI score was 6.9 (S.D. = 5.8) and mean RSE score was 31.0 (S.D. = 5.3). Two men scored above the EAT cut off of 30, indicating a possible eating disorder diagnosis (Garner & Garfinkel, 1979).
Question 1: are high levels of underlying assumptions about weight, shape and eating specific predictors of eating attitudes?
The analysis conducted in Cooper et al. (1997) to investigate predictors of EAT score in a nonclinical sample of women was
Discussion
The pattern of results obtained in young men in the current study was very similar to that obtained in young women in the study conducted by Cooper et al. (1997). This provides preliminary evidence that the EDBQ is a useful measure of negative self-beliefs and underlying assumptions related to eating, weight and shape in young men, and, crucially, that it predicts eating attitudes and depressive symptoms in a similar and very specific way, as would be predicted by cognitive theory.
The one
References (16)
Cognitive theory in anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa: Progress, development and future directions
Clinical Psychology Review
(2005)- et al.
The eating disorder belief questionnaire: Preliminary development
Behaviour Research and Therapy
(1997) - et al.
Core beliefs and underlying assumptions in bulimia nervosa and depression
Behaviour Research and Therapy
(1998) - et al.
Core beliefs in bulimia nervosa and depression: The discriminant validity of Young's Schema Questionnaire
Behaviour Therapy
(2001) - et al.
An inventory for measuring depression
Archives of General Psychiatry
(1961) - Cooper, M. J., Rose, K. S., & Turner, H. (in press). The specific content of core beliefs and schema in adolescent...
- et al.
The development and validation of the body shape questionnaire
International Journal of Eating Disorders
(1987) - et al.
A cognitive theory of bulimia nervosa
British Journal of Clinical Psychology
(2004)